How important is it that a monopod extend to eye level?

Question

I see that most monopod are not very tall when fully extended.

How important is it to choose a monopod that is high enough??

I am six foot two (189cm) and my eye level is roughly around 175cm.

Many monopods only gets to 150cm or 160cm. Adding the height of my camera, it is still usually a few cm lower than my eye level (when I am standing straight, with shoes on)

I would like to seek some advice from experienced monopod user. Do you think it is important to get a monopod that, when everything is mounted, at least meets your eye level at a comfortable standing position?

I tried a monopod in a store today and it is about 5 cm short. Meaning that when I mount my camera on it, standing perfectly straight, the viewfinder will be at the level of my nose, not my eye.

Would that bother you?

Answer

I've found that I like my monopod tall enough so that the viewfinder is pretty much exactly at eye level. If it's much lower than that then I find that after only a short period of use, my neck starts to cramp. It should also be noted that if I'm shooting something above me (birds in flight for instance) then I'll tend to have the viewfinder above eye level, so I can look up through the camera without having to crouch, so in my case I like the monopod to be capable of extending about 5-10 cm above eye level.

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